A long, interesting road brought senior wide receiver Jack Rummell to the field where he played Saturday.
From Hampshire to Thompson’s Station, Tennessee, to Tennessee Tech and finally to Naperville to play with his brother Nic, Rummell had quite a journey to North Central College.
“He moved in high school during COVID so he could play,” NCC coach Brad Spencer said. “He wasn’t having the experience he wanted at Tennessee Tech. For Jack, the connection was his brother, who is on the staff now.”
The defending NCAA Division III national champion Cardinals are glad to have the younger Rummell too. He caught six passes for a career-high 179 yards and two touchdowns as No. 1 NCC routed No. 8 John Carroll 41-21 in the national semifinals at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium on Saturday.
Rummell suffered an injury going for his third touchdown in the third quarter and didn’t return. He was unavailable for comment after the game as a precaution.
The Cardinals (14-0) will play No. 4 Wisconsin-River Falls (13-1) in the Stagg Bowl in Canton, Ohio, on Jan. 4 with a chance to win their fourth national title in their sixth straight appearance in the game.
“We’re super excited and feel very fortunate and blessed to be in this position to go back to another Stagg Bowl,” Spencer said. “It’s about our guys having a first-class experience, and we’ve been able to have the chance to do that the last five years.”
Senior Thomas Skokna, a Hinsdale Central graduate, is the Cardinals’ leading receiver. But sophomore quarterback Garret Wilson, who completed 18 of 23 passes for 324 yards and three touchdowns against John Carroll (12-2), has gone to Rummell as a reliable second option all season.
Wilson and Rummell connected for a 71-yard touchdown pass with 3:57 left in the first quarter, the Cardinals’ longest play of the season. Then with 12:07 left in the second quarter, Rummell juked his way down the field for a 31-yard touchdown on a third-down pass play.
“I always tell him to do something cool, and that third-and-8 was pretty cool,” Wilson said. “When a guy is hot, you want to get him the ball as much as possible. We were able to build that connection in the offseason. (Saturday) was a big one for him.”
The Cardinals led 21-0 late in the second quarter when John Carroll, which would receive the second-half kickoff, started to drive down the field. But NCC senior defensive lineman John Sullivan, a Lakes graduate, pressured John Carroll quarterback Nick Semptimphelter, and senior defensive tackle Eli Renick picked off the pass and rumbled 60 yards for a touchdown.
“What was going through my head was ‘I’m probably about to get caught,’” Renick said. “It said 60 yards, and it felt longer than that. As soon as I stepped in the end zone, I was like, ‘Holy crap, I scored a touchdown.’ That was the biggest play of my life so far.”
Rummell is another transfer success story for Spencer, who improved to 58-1 in his fourth season after being named the American Football Coaches Association’s Division III coach of the year. Rummell, who totaled 10 catches as a sophomore, made 28 catches for 597 yards and seven touchdowns last year. He has surpassed those numbers this season.
Much like Wilson, who transferred from Oklahoma State before this season, and senior kicker Aidan Ellison, a Naperville Central graduate who transferred from Arkansas State and won the Fred Mitchell Award on Dec. 11, Rummell is further evidence that NCC has become a destination for players looking for a positive experience.
“I really take great pride in having transfers come in who are about the right things and want to be about the program and not worried about having personal success,” Spencer said. “There’s a lot of joy. Like Aidan, that’s why he came here. What Garret’s doing, that’s why he came here.
“They didn’t come here for NIL or the best facilities in the world. They wanted to be part of a program.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter.